A significant variety of raised access floor systems have been developed for use in commercial buildings. Such systems typically employ a plurality of height-adjustable pedestals which are supported on the main floor and, when disposed in a gridlike arrangement, support a plurality of removable floor panels on the upper ends thereof. The floor panels are formed using numerous construction techniques, with one common technique employing a formed sheet metal pan defining an upwardly opening compartment which is filled with concrete. The space below the raised floor is utilized for accommodating cabling (power, data and communication), and in addition accommodates or defines ducts for heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC).
In known floors employing composite steel and concrete floor panels, many of the floor panels have a substantially uniform depth throughout the pan such that the quantity of concrete utilized and the resulting weight of the floor panel is heavy. These arrangements also result in the bottom of the concrete being loaded in tension when the upper surface of the floor panel is subjected to heavy loads, and since concrete does not possess good durability when loaded in tension, it has been observed that floor panels of this type undergo undesired cracking and failure.
In an effort to improve the strength of the concrete as formed in the metal pan, numerous pans have been developed which provide some type of upward projection associated with the bottom wall so as to hopefully improve the mechanical securement and strength properties between the concrete and the steel pan. These projections often are lanced upwardly from the bottom wall of the pan, thereby leaving openings in the bottom of the pan whereby filling of the pan with wet concrete creates leakage or seal problems which hence complicate the overall manufacturing process.
With known floor systems, and specifically installation thereof, numerous cables (power, data and communication) are typically installed into the open space below the floor system, and these cables generally are positioned somewhat randomly within this space. The overall largeness of this open space makes organization and identification of the various cables difficult. In an attempt to at least partially alleviate this problem, other manufacturers have provided special devices which are positioned in the space below the raised floor so as to occupy at least some of the space which exists between the pedestals. While these devices, which typically are formed as large upwardly opening trays or the like, have been at least partially effective with respect to being able to organize and identify the plurality of cables, nevertheless the devices are for the most part bulky and must be purchased from a separate supplier and effectively interfitted into the space below the raised floor, such that the overall purchase and installation of the raised floor becomes more complex and expensive.
Installation of conventional raised floors also typically requires that the numerous pedestals associated with the floor, because of the significant metal content associated with the floor panels, be electrically grounded. This is typically done by electricians after the floor has been installed, and involves positioning grounding wires throughout the space and then adapting clamps to the pedestals for securement of the grounding wires thereto. This is a time consuming and adaptive effort since the electrician must identify and provide clamps which can be suitably secured to the pedestal.
In addition, these devices typically require some type of special clip or fixture for permitting securement of the device either to the pedestals or to the floor panel supporting runners which extend between adjacent pedestals. This hence increases the overall structural complexity and cost of such devices, and in particular makes installation of such devices more difficult and time-consuming. Further, some of these devices require that special runners be provided for supporting the floor panel in order to also accommodate the cable support device, and this hence significantly increases the overall complexity and cost of the system.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved raised access floor system, including improvements associated with both the floor panels and the pedestals used for supporting the floor panels, which improvements are believed to overcome or at least minimize many of the disadvantages associated with prior systems as briefly discussed above.
It is also an object of this invention to provide an improved cable management arrangement for use in association with a raised floor system, which cable management system employs a basic cable manager formed generally in one piece and having connecting parts integrally associated therewith, the latter preferably being resiliently deflectable to permit them to be easily engaged with adjacent pedestals without requiring separate mounting parts or hardware, whereby the cable management devices can be readily installed with the raised floor system in a simple and economical manner, thereby overcoming or at least minimizing many of the disadvantages associated with prior systems as discussed above.
The present invention relates to an improved steel and concrete composite floor panel intended for use in a raised floor system, wherein the floor panel is defined by a thin metal (i.e. steel) pan which defines a shallow upwardly opening compartment therein which is filled with concrete. The horizontally large bottom wall of the pan has a significantly large center portion which is deformed upwardly relative to the edge portions so that the center portion of the concrete will be of reduced thickness relative to the edge portion of the concrete, the latter cooperating with side walls on the pan and being confined between the bottom wall and the top flange so that the edges of the floor panel have a high strength beamlike structure extending therealong, whereas the reduced center thickness of the concrete permits reduction in floor panel weight while permitting more efficient utilization of the strength properties of the panel. The bottom wall also has a first plurality of projections protruding upwardly therefrom which create a mechanical interlock with the concrete. The bottom wall of the pan also has a plurality of second projections protruding upwardly therefrom into the concrete, the second projections being smaller and of significantly greater numbers than the first projections so as to provide supportive engagement with the concrete at a large number of locations so that the loading stresses imposed on the concrete, and specifically the tension stresses thereon adjacent the bottom of the concrete, are immediately transferred to the bottom wall of the steel pan at a large number of locations so as to minimize the tendency for the concrete to fail under tension.
The improved floor panel of the present invention, as aforesaid, also has a gusseted corner associated with the metal pan so as to improve the strength and rigidity thereof, with the gusseted corner defining therein a step or shoulder positioned downwardly from the upper corner of the top flange so that the corner of the pan, when seated on a pedestal head, can be at least partially supportingly engaged at the step to provide for improved supportive engagement with the pedestal.
The floor panel of the present invention, as aforesaid, preferably forms the metal pan in one piece from sheet metal, and the pan throughout the bottom and side walls is free of perforations or openings to hence create a seal for confinement of the concrete during manufacture of the floor panel.
The present invention also relates to an improved pedestal assembly and preferably a height-adjustable pedestal which, at its upper end, has an improved pedestal head which is positioned for supportive engagement of the corners of four floor pans to maintain the floor pans in the desired raised position. The pedestal head has a top wall which at the center thereof joins to an upper end of an upright pedestal stem, with the top wall having four support portions spaced around the center thereof and each having an opening therethrough for accommodating a fastener which projects downwardly from an upper corner of a respective floor panel. The pedestal head also has, adjacent the periphery thereof, four shelves formed in spaced relationship therearound adjacent the outer periphery thereof, which shelves are spaced downwardly from the top wall and project outwardly so as to project under and hence supportingly engage the steps associated with the gusseted corners of the floor panels.
The pedestal assembly of the present invention in addition includes improved connecting features integrally associated therewith, such as with the base of the pedestal, for facilitating attachment of one half of a clamp, the other half of the clamp being integrated on the base, to permit a grounding wire to be easily and efficiently coupled to the pedestal.
The improved pedestal assembly of the present invention also has connecting structure integrated with the base thereof to permit a cable manager to be readily coupled to the base to permit positional control over cables which are stored in the space below the raised floor. The cable manager according to one embodiment of the invention is formed as an elongate element which has opposite ends thereof which attach to integrated attachment structures associated with a pair of adjacent pedestal bases without requiring separate attachment parts or fixtures. The cable manager also has an elongate center portion which extends between the pedestal bases and defines therein a plurality of sidewardly adjacent, upwardly opening channels for permitting cables to be disposed therein to provide positional organization for the cables.
According to a further embodiment, the cable manager is formed as a horizontally extending tray or shelf which, at the corners along at least one edge thereof, is provided with support legs which at lower ends have end parts which attach to integrated attachment structures associated with a pair of adjacent pedestal bases without requiring separate parts or fixtures. The tray or shelf adjacent an opposite edge thereof is provided with support arms which either project generally horizontally for supportive engagement with an adjacent tray, or project downwardly for engagement with the floor, to maintain the tray in a generally horizontal orientation wherein it occupies a significant portion of the area between adjacent pedestal assemblies as associated with adjacent rows of such assemblies. The tray is maintained in downwardly spaced relation from the raised floor panels, but is spaced upwardly from the subfloor for permitting significant quantities of cables to be positionally supported thereon.
Other objects and purposes of the invention will be additionally described hereinafter, and will also be apparent to persons familiar with raised floor assemblies after reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.
Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only, and will not be limiting. For example, the words “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “rightwardly” and “leftwardly” will refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “upwardly” and “downwardly” will also refer to the normal positional relationship of the raised floor assembly relative to the building floor. The words “inwardly” and “outwardly” will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the arrangement or designated parts thereof. Said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.